January 2010 would not necessarily be a month that Elizabeth Edwards would want to remember. Not that she's probably had many memorable months in the last two years. The recent revelations in the book "Game Change" about her demeanor, and the plotting of how to use her cancer diagnosis on the campaign trail, was followed with her husband's admission of fathering another woman's child.
There has been outrage over the plotting of how to use her cancer diagnosis on the campaign trail. As a five-time cancer survivor I say--leave it alone.
We call it playing the cancer card. And for all we go through with surgeries and treatments, on-going pain and most of all, the emotional ups and downs of living with cancer, if you haven't walked in our shoes, don't judge us.
I've played the cancer card myself a few times (especially when bill collectors call). Playing the cancer card doesn't mean lying or being dishonest. In fact, its just the opposite. Its being honest. I have cancer. And because of that I can't go on a long hike right now because my medication gives me fatigue. And because of that I have so many medical bills that I might be late on my credit card payment.
And because of that, the public may have a great deal of sympathy and the polls might actually go up.
So what?
Leave her alone. Leave them alone. They are suffering in more ways than we'll ever know.